TL/ED – Miso

Returning to the Empire did not earn me a triumphant general’s welcome.

That was because the moment I regained consciousness, Dersia opened a door leading straight to the Imperial Palace, and specifically to Sharmia’s chambers.

“Ah, Jern, it seems you’ve come to.”

Perhaps she had been informed ahead of time, because despite the late hour, Sharmia greeted me courteously, dressed in formal attire.

“I was shocked to hear you were badly injured. I’m so relieved you made it back safely…”

“I’m perfectly fine. Master gave me something like treatment, if you could call it that…”

Perhaps because the actual combat time had been fairly short, my wounds hadn’t opened up too badly.

“Also, there’s something I’d like to show Master. I found some chunks of ice in the Deep Sea.”

“You can already use Decay’s abilities?”

“No, I just found them.”

“?”

To show Dersia the thing in question, I entered the Deep Sea, grabbed the ice chunk I had set aside beforehand, and slowly layered Water Barrier over it.

Once the Water Barrier and the ice chunk became completely fused, I returned to reality.

Dersia, who had remained expressionless throughout, even as I vanished into thin air and reappeared, immediately furrowed her brow the moment she saw what I had brought.

“Wh-what is that?”

That was Sharmia. Karos, standing beside her, also dropped her jaw.

It was the reaction I had expected. This was the first time I had shown this to anyone I knew.

“This is what I call a Deep Sea Creature.”

Inside the ice chunk sat an Anglerfish, its form perfectly preserved, roughly the size of my body. Beyond simply being large, it had quite a few peculiarities. Eyes dotting its fins, for instance.

Dersia seemed more curious than disturbed by its unusual appearance, tapping on the ice chunk as she asked.

“Hmm, is this specimen the most hideous-looking one?”

“No. I picked one of the cuter ones from what was available. There weren’t that many of these preserved specimens.”

“It’s an even more dreadful world than I imagined…”

After I had defeated Decay, unidentifiable glaciers had begun slowly sinking through my Deep Sea in a recurring pattern.

They varied in size, from ones as large as a small house to mere fist-sized ice chunks… and among them were some like this, containing Deep Sea Creatures preserved inside, like mosquitoes trapped in amber.

Until now, whenever a Deep Sea Creature sustained even a single wound, it would instantly succumb to the water pressure and get crushed into something the size of a pill. And if I had tried to trap a living one inside my Water Barrier, it would have noticed me and tried to kill me on the spot, so I had never been able to present one this way.

“Would it be alright if I melt it?”

“Well, they’re tough enough that it might still be alive. Not that it would matter much.”

With so many capable people around, there shouldn’t be any real problem. I nodded, and Dersia immediately snapped her fingers.

Whoosh! A flame surged up, enveloped the ice, and then went out. But residual heat remained, slowly beginning to melt the ice.

Before long, all the ice had turned to water, and as the dark red scales caught the lamplight and gleamed even more vividly, Sharmia recoiled in horror.

“It really, really looks disgusting?? It doesn’t carry any diseases, does it…?”

“Don’t worry. If it carried anything like that, I would have been the first to catch it.”

“Jern.”

While I was calming Sharmia down, Dersia urgently called my name.

I turned to look, and the Deep Sea Creature was swelling up.

“?”

“Urgh… I think I’m going to be sick…”

Leaving the nauseated princess behind, the Anglerfish gradually inflated like a bomb with a lit fuse. It didn’t actually burst, but it didn’t stop until it had swollen to twice its original size, taking on a shape that was nearly spherical.

“It must be because it’s a creature that lives in the Deep Sea.”

Dersia nodded in understanding as she observed the now far more grotesque Deep Sea Creature.

“Coming out into a world with no water pressure at all, the outward force its body exerts to survive must have done this. How fascinating, hmm…”

“Could you please get this out of my office?!”

After Dersia opened a door and deposited the bloated Deep Sea Creature carcass in her own room, she turned to me with eyes brimming with enthusiasm.

“Jern. Could you bring me several of these? The more the better.”

“Yes, of course.”

I hadn’t even found Decay’s corpse to absorb his abilities yet, and this was already the result. Just as I was thinking about what an efficient world it was, Karos eyed the stain left behind by the Deep Sea Creature with visible unease and asked.

“So… the reason that Deep Sea Creature swelled up is because it was deep in the sea and then suddenly came outside.”

“That’s right.”

“Then wouldn’t the same thing happen to you when you escape from the Deep Sea?”

“I don’t survive inside the Deep Sea through physical endurance alone, so…”

There was no risk of me bursting even if I did escape the Deep Sea.

I was about to state that with confidence, but then I realized something.

‘…Escaping, huh.’

Surviving inside the Deep Sea had become considerably more manageable.

But as for my actual goal, escaping, I still had absolutely no leads.

In fact, the more I learned, the more pessimistic my thoughts became about whether it was even possible to escape the Deep Sea through conventional means.

Every time I used the Deep Sea’s environment in battle against an enemy. Every time I felt its overwhelming power firsthand…

Perhaps it was because I kept being reminded that, in the end, I was the one who would have to overcome this power.

“Jern uses a special world of his own called Water Barrier to survive inside the Deep Sea. He won’t end up like this Deep Sea Creature.”

While I had paused, Dersia filled in for me.

“In any case, Jern, you truly did an incredible job. As I mentioned before, without you, we never could have found him.”

“I did it to survive, too. It’s not the kind of thing that deserves gratitude.”

“Achievements must be rewarded. Otherwise, no one would ever step forward for the sake of the nation…”

She glanced at Karos.

Karos gave a single nod, then produced the box she had been holding and handed a medal each to Brimdal and Dersia, who were seated nearby.

“What is this.”

“It’s not just ‘what is this.’ It’s the Medal of Honor, given to heroes who saved the nation…”

“I don’t need it. Take it back.”

Dersia pinched the golden medal between her index finger and thumb as though handling food waste, her face scrunching up as if someone had just insulted her parents.

“Hmm, is this True Steel-Gold by any chance? The purity is remarkably high. Melt it down and you could get a dagger out of it.”

Not just Dersia but Brimdal also seemed displeased, yet Sharmia pressed on firmly.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to accept this. A parade for the two heroes has also been prepared shortly, so you’ll need to ride in a carriage for two hours through the Empire, smiling and waving at the citizens.”

“Did you perhaps see me committing treason in a future you glimpsed, Your Highness?”

“The Empire needs heroes right now.”

She shrugged and worked to persuade the reluctant Dersia.

“Every citizen of the Empire is in despair. The true nature of the Crimson Circle still hasn’t been clearly revealed to the public, and the direct threat turned out to be far more serious than anyone had imagined. Since the era of peace lasted for so long, people can’t endure hopeless despair for very long.”

“Why must I be that hope.”

“You’ve shown definitive results, haven’t you?”

“It seems you didn’t understand me. What I’m asking is what I stand to gain by becoming that hope.”

“Because we can help each other.”

“In what way, exactly.”

Despite the pointed question, Sharmia replied with an innocent smile.

“Becoming a hero in the world of humans might be something no elf has ever accomplished, don’t you think? Human history hasn’t exactly painted elves in a favorable light.”

“…”

“And? Since I happen to be the leader of these humans, I’ve recently learned some of the elves’ hidden history as well. How they’ve collared themselves, waiting for a savior who may someday come…”

“You seem remarkably well-informed. I’d almost suspect you’ve been investigating.”

“Ehehe, caught me?”

…Having replied in a manner befitting a girl her age, Sharmia soon asked again with a slightly more serious smile.

“I know you’re not fond of your own kind. But you don’t truly want them to remain trapped inside one elf’s mind, do you? Becoming a hero to humans might be the first step toward changing that.”

The content was quite biting, in contrast to her soft and cheerful tone.

After a moment of deliberation, Dersia slowly nodded.

“…Very well. However, if you intend to use me for ‘public appearances.'”

“Don’t worry. I’m well aware that using Dersia for public appearances would only backfire. Have you ever heard of the concept of mystique?”

It seemed that Dersia, too, found the idea of all her people being bound inside Azrael’s mind deeply unpleasant.

“Ahem, Princess.”

Once the two of them had reached something of a compromise, Brimdal, who had been listening in silence, cleared his throat to draw attention.

“Ahem, Princess. Don’t I get anything?”

“Sir Brimdal, all of your criminal records will be…”

Before Sharmia could finish, Karos hurriedly whispered something in her ear.

Listening to it, Sharmia nodded with a somewhat incredulous expression and continued.

“…For now, we’ll expunge only the serious crimes. And we’ll handle negotiations with the other noble houses you’ve wronged on our end, so that should significantly reduce the number of assassination attempts you face when walking around the city.”

“Hmm, if that’s the case, I could live a bit closer in.”

“…”

So the reason Brimdal lived in the mountains far from the capital wasn’t because he was a reclusive master, but simply because he had too many crimes to his name.

Once Brimdal nodded as well, Sharmia turned her gaze toward me.

“And Jern.”

“I really don’t need anything.”

“I knew you’d say that. First of all, the charges that were pinned on you before have all been cleared, but the problem is that you publicly declared yourself a Fallen in front of every noble.”

There was no way a nobody like me could have been included in the expedition to take down Decay otherwise.

Revealing myself as a Fallen had been an unavoidable step, if only to serve as a guide.

“It’s fine. I’m fairly confident in staying under the radar.”

“I told you. Punishment for crimes, reward for merit. Every problem that arises in a nation is a byproduct of violating this principle.”

This time, Karos handed me a small seal.

Unlike Dersia, who had shown no reaction whatsoever, Brimdal flinched and stared at the seal intently.

“What is this?”

“In the end, there’s simply no way around the negative perception of the Fallen. To fix that, no plausible title would even come close… Even inheriting the Emperor’s throne probably couldn’t change that perception.”

“Your Highness, that statement is a bit…”

“Oh, sorry. It was just an analogy. So what’s needed is justification, I think. To make it absolutely clear that Jern isn’t simply a Fallen who betrayed his kind, but someone on our side… I’d like you to become an Honorary Knight.”

“…A knight?”

“Yes. Of the Wax Wings. I’ve already handled the investiture ceremony under my authority.”

Well, if it was that much, it made sense.

The Wax Wings were a knightly order created to capture the Fallen. Even as just an Honorary Knight, holding a position within that order would go a long way toward quelling any suspicion that I might be in league with them.

Of course, regardless of where I was affiliated, if I didn’t produce results, complaints would resurface. But given that the process of escaping the Deep Sea would likely bring me into conflict with them time and again, it seemed fitting.

It was a perfectly appropriate reward. I nodded and expressed my gratitude.

“Thank you. Having someone like me as a knight must have been quite a stretch.”

“…No, but that seal, if I recall correctly…”

“It’s nothing special. For now, just get some proper rest tonight.”

Brimdal tried to bring something up, but Sharmia promptly cut him off.

“I’ve heard your internal injuries are quite severe. I’m grateful you took down Decay, but you’ll need at least a few weeks of nothing but recuperation.”

“No, I’m not really in that much pain. Most of it has already healed.”

“The Princess is right, Jern.”

Surprisingly, Dersia sided with Sharmia and shook her head.

“You’ve been pushing yourself far too hard for too long. Even if you feel fine right now, precisely because of that, this is when you need to rest.”

“With Decay gone and the Crimson Circle showing no signs of reacting… this might be the only chance you get to rest.”

“Ah, understood.”

Under the fierce combined assault of the two, I nodded in acceptance.

***

At first I adamantly refused, but thanks to Sharmia’s persistent persuasion, I managed to secure a room in the Imperial Palace.

“Rest here for a while. There are a few things that need to be done as part of processing the, well, procedures… Of course, I’m not restricting your movement, so if there’s anywhere you’d like to go, you’re free to go wherever you please.”

And so I found myself lying on a bed large enough for five of me with room to spare, in a room bigger than most living rooms, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“…No, this won’t do.”

I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing simply because someone told me to rest.

I still needed to find Decay’s corpse in the Deep Sea, and I had to search for other Deep Sea Creatures I might be able to consume while expanding my encyclopedia.

But I couldn’t very well commit the sacrilege of diving into the Deep Sea barely an hour after being told to rest, so I reluctantly decided to work on the encyclopedia instead and pulled out a notebook along with a pencil.

[…]

Whether the Deep Sea had continued sinking me to greater depths in the meantime, the Deep Sea Creatures drifting nearby had taken on slightly different appearances.

After spending a while sketching those creatures, the worry I had been mulling over earlier suddenly resurfaced.

‘…Is escape really even possible?’

I didn’t know.

I didn’t think this process of advancing bit by bit, growing bit by bit, was futile. It was thanks to that progress that I, who should have been crushed to death long ago, had survived.

But now that things had become a little more bearable, looking up at my goal, all I could feel was the same overwhelming distance as when I had started.

That wasn’t a reason to give up. If I had been the type to choose death just because things were hard and painful, I would have given up long ago.

It was simply a fact that no concrete method of reaching my goal came to mind.

Where to go, and how to get there.

After agonizing over it for a while, I felt a headache creeping in and let out a sigh as I set down my pen.

“Maybe I really should just rest…”

I had taken down an Upper Tier member of the Crimson Circle.

The Crimson Circle would be unable to exert their influence for some time going forward. Just finding a new Upper Tier member alone would take quite a while.

Perhaps now really was the only time I could rest. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t get a grasp on what to do next.

The most I could muster was a faint hope that a bit of refreshment might bring a new idea to mind.

It was already the dead of night. I wandered aimlessly through the corridors where only guards patrolled, and then stopped.

“?”

I was in front of a study. The Imperial Palace was lined with all manner of buildings, and thanks to Sharmia, there were an impressive number of spaces dedicated to storing books.

The reason I had stopped here of all places was that my Current Sense had picked up something familiar.

I carefully opened the door and stepped into the room, lit by nothing but a single oil lamp, only to find Elysia slumped over a book, fast asleep.

“Zzz… mm… zzz…”

“…Why is she here?”

Even if Elysia was a noble, she shouldn’t have been able to come and go from the Imperial Palace freely.

Puzzled, I noticed she had fallen asleep in a rather acrobatic position. I carefully lifted her and settled her into a nearby armchair.

As I tidied up the fallen books, I grew curious about what she had been reading and checked them one by one.

A cookbook, a map of the Empire, guides to notable attractions in various regions. Beyond those, there were several history books and even a storybook.

In other words, they had absolutely nothing in common. I was about to tidy them away, thinking she had just read whatever caught her eye, when one particular storybook caught my attention.

“…”

The cover depicted a gallant knight pointing a sword at a wicked demon perched atop a massive spire. That much was fine, but the title, “The First Wizard,” inevitably drew my gaze.

I flipped through it quickly and found it was all content I already knew. A somewhat brutal fairy tale in which The First Wizard, in what was practically an act of creation, magnificently vanquished the Crimson Circle.

Wondering why she had been reading something like this, I kept going indifferently until I reached the ending, at which point I let out a sigh of disbelief.

[And so, having defeated the Crimson Circle but unable to heal his wounds, the dying wizard made his way to a small mountain village and immersed himself in the pond there.]

[The pond turned red with his blood, but in return, a fairy sleeping within the pond healed the wizard’s wounds.]

[That pond, the Fairy’s Pond, lies in the hills behind the city of Iabon…]

I flipped to the back cover and found a note that the book had been printed in Iabon.

Fairy tales like this always varied a little in their details, but this was probably just a sales gimmick.

I was about to close it when a rather intriguing passage caught my eye.

[In gratitude, the wizard planted his staff before the fairy of the pond.]

[The staff grew into a tree, tall and taller still. Where its leaves touched, the world turned white, consoling the pond that had been stained red.]

“…”

The description bore a striking resemblance to the tree I had seen at the Crimson Circle’s headquarters.

Of course, judging by the content, it was clearly just a marketing ploy. Everything that followed was nothing but praise for what a wonderful travel destination Iabon was. This was probably a case where something casually thrown in for the sake of narrative flow happened to coincidentally align with reality.

Honestly, the sales pitch was what resonated with me the most. The mention of warm hot springs where I could soak my body sounded quite appealing.

“Hmm…”

I didn’t believe in fairy tales.

But I thought it might not be a bad idea to visit, just for the sake of rest.

“Mmm…?”

Perhaps the sound of turning pages had been too loud, because Elysia woke up and rubbed her eyes.

She squinted at me through bleary eyes as I stood before the oil lamp holding a storybook, then slowly widened both eyes.

“J-Jern?”

“It’s been a while.”

“Are you okay?? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

She seemed to know I had gone somewhere dangerous, because the moment she saw me, worry practically poured from her eyes.

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“B-but… you look really exhausted…”

I had answered with confidence, but apparently I couldn’t hide how worn out I looked. After patting my cheeks for a moment, I shrugged and replied.

“I am a bit tired. I’m planning to take it easy for a while.”

After a brief moment of thought, I asked without any particular reason.

“Do you happen to know a city called Iabon?”

“Yeah!”

Elysia said, then tilted her head for a moment before adding.

“…It’s my hometown!”

*****

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